John Rylands Library, Manchester (Lancashire)
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John Rylands Library, 150 Deansgate, Manchester M3 3EHRecommended by
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‘Totem’ - 11m tall glass sculpture, referencing literary themesArtist, maker and date
Designed by Derek Hunt and made in collaboration with T4 Design, 2009Reason for highlighting
This is a project that demonstrates the best in contemporary glass and the way it can work to create connections to the physical and cerebral world.
The art work sits between the original neo-Gothic Library building, designed by Basil Champneys, and the new entrance wing. It links the two by echoing the colour scheme established by Basil Champneys, within a contemporary design, that employs glass, steel and light in a carefully controlled palette of colours.
The cerebral world is celebrated by incorporating references to works held within the Library’s internationally famous collections, such as the St John Fragment, the earliest known fragment of the New Testament in any language.
Artist/maker notes
Derek Hunt (b.1962) is a renowned British glass artist, with over 35 years’ experience designing artworks for churches and public spaces.
He creates hand crafted traditional stained glass in his rural studio in the heart of Leicestershire, and also makes beautiful contemporary glass installations which can be hung on wires or fixed to walls.
Every project is unique, with a focus on collaboration and community engagement being at the heart of many commissions.
http://limelightstudios.co.uk/index.html
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T4 Design, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire are manufacturers of bespoke glass designs, that become an integral part of a building’s architecture.
Other comments
Derek Hunt worked with the glass processing company T4 Design Ltd of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire to develop innovative ways of incorporating handmade antique glass into computer printed toughened glass panels. Individual pieces of coloured antique glass were deep etched and hand painted to create specific visual references to books within the Library’s collection, and these colour glass pieces were vacuum sealed and glued onto larger toughened glass panels, which in turn were made into laminated panels with a computer printed interlayer. The final artwork measures 11m high and consists of 15 individual panels installed vertically onto the main wall of the new atrium area of The John Rylands University Library. The artwork is backlit with purpose made LED light panels which are embedded into the wall to light the structure and add an extra dimension to the artwork after dark.